Our invention relates to a visual presentation system having one or more video disk players or like source or sources of a video signal or signals, and one or more display devices for visibly reproducing the video signal or signals. More particularly, our invention concerns such a visual presentation system featuring facilities for a change from one reproduced scene to another in a wiping mode. The visual presentation system according to our invention lends itself to use for the commercial publicity of new products and processes, the introduction of corporations and other establishments, the disclosure of scientific and technological theories and ideas, and a variety of other presentations addressed to limited audiences.
By the term "wiping" we means such a change from one reproduced scene to another that the area occupied by the new scene on the screen or screens is incremented, with corresponding decrement in the area occupied by the old scene, until the new scene totally replaces the old. A variety of different wiping modes are possible (FIG. 2), as will be explained subsequently in more detail.
The idea of juxtaposing a set of, three for example, displays for the simultaneous reproduction of as many correlated pictures is itself not new. Conventionally, the set of displays such as those of the familiar cathode ray tube construction have been separately connected to video tape recorders or players or decks. Loaded with magnetic tapes, the video tape decks have been driven synchronously under the direction of an electronic control device. The magnetic tapes have correlated picture signals prerecorded thereon. Therefore, as the tape decks are driven synchronously, the correlated picture signals have been visually reproduced on the respective displays.
With such conventional multiple display presentation systems, a wiping change from one scene to another has been possible only by prerecording the picture signals on the magnetic tapes so as to realize such a wiping when they are reproduced on the displays. We object to this conventional practice. The recording of picture signals with wiping scene changes has involved a difficult and timing consuming task. The difficulty has become still greater when two or more correlated picture signals must be recorded on separate magnetic tapes for joint wipings on as many juxtaposed displays. Furthermore, the choice of any one of several different wiping modes at the time of recording has precluded all the others; in other words, the different wiping modes have not been selectable at will at the time of reproduction.